Meriwether Lewis commanded the most important exploration mission in United States¿ early history. Clay S. Jenkinson examines Lewis's journal entries and letters to reveal a rich, yet troubled personality with aspirations of heroism. When the American mythology surrounding him is removed, Lewis emerges as a fuller, more human, and endlessly fascinating explorer. Originally published by The Dakota Institute in 2011.

The Character of Meriwether Lewis: Explorer in the Wilderness; Essays on One of the Most Remarkable Men in American History

Biographies & Memoirs

Jenkinson, Clay S.

Historical

Washington State Univ Pr

Lewis and Clark in Iowa

Iowa Lewis & Clark Bicentennia

The Character of Meriwether Lewis: Explorer in the Wilderness

Meriwether Lewis commanded the most important exploration mission in the early history of the United States. Clay S. Jenkinson takes a fresh look at Lewis, not to offer a paper cutout hero but to describe and explain a hyperserious young man of great complexity who found the wilderness of Upper Louisiana as exacting as it was exhilarating.
Jenkinson sees Lewis as a troubled soul before he left St. Charles, Missouri, in May 1804. His experiences in lands "upon which the foot of civilized man had never trodden" further fractured his sense of himself. His hiring William Clark as his "partner in discovery" was, Jenkinson shows, the most intelligent decision he ever made. When Clark was nearby, Lewis's leadership was stable and productive. When Clark was absent and thus unable to provide a calming influence on his mercurial friend, Lewis tended to get into trouble. Jenkinson argues that if Clark had been with Lewis on the Natchez Trace, the governor of Upper Louisiana would not have killed himself. Jenkinson sees Lewis's 1809 suicide not as an inexplicable mystery, but the culmination of a series of pressures that extend back to the expedition and perhaps even earlier.
The Character of Meriwether Lewis: Explorer in the Wilderness is a revision of an earlier book, greatly expanded with new scholarship and insights gained through Jenkinson's extensive participation in the Lewis and Clark Expedition Bicentennial. Jenkinson discusses Lewis's sense of humor, his oft-stated fear that the expedition he was leading might collapse, his self-conscious learnedness, and his inability to re-enter "polite society" after his return. The book attempts to reconstruct from Lewis's journal entries and letters his rich, troubled personality and his aspirations to heroism. When the American mythology surrounding him is removed and Lewis is allowed to reveal himself, he emerges as a fuller, more human, and endlessly fascinating explorer.

The Dakota Institute

The human aspects of the famed explorer, in a revised and expanded biography Meriwether Lewis commanded the most important exploration mission in the early history of the United States. Clay S. Jenkinson takes a fresh look at Lewis, not to offer a paper cutout hero but to describe and explain a hyperserious young man of great complexity who found the wilderness of Upper Louisiana as exacting as it was exhilarating. Jenkinson sees Lewis as a troubled soul before he left St. Charles, Missouri, in May 1804. His experiences in lands "upon which the foot of civilized man had never trodden" further fractured his sense of himself. His hiring William Clark as his "partner in discovery" was, Jenkinson shows, the most intelligent decision he ever made. When Clark was nearby, Lewis's leadership was stable and productive. When Clark was absent and thus unable to provide a calming influence on his mercurial friend, Lewis tended to get into trouble. Jenkinson argues that if Clark had been with Lewis on the Natchez Trace, the governor of Upper Louisiana would not have killed himself. Jenkinson sees Lewis's 1809 suicide not as an inexplicable mystery, but the culmination of a series of pressures that extend back to the expedition and perhaps even earlier. The Character of Meriwether Lewis: Explorer in the Wilderness is a revision of an earlier book, greatly expanded with new scholarship and insights gained through Jenkinson's extensive participation in the Lewis and Clark Expedition Bicentennial. Jenkinson discusses Lewis's sense of humor, his oft-stated fear that the expedition he was leading might collapse, his self-conscious learnedness, and his inability to re-enter "polite society" after his return. The book attempts to reconstruct from Lewis's journal entries and letters his rich, troubled personality and his aspirations to heroism. When the American mythology surrounding him is removed and Lewis is allowed to reveal himself, he emerges as a fuller, more human, and endlessly fascinating explorer.

Theodore Roosevelt ventured into the American West to seek authentic frontier experience and the strenuous life. The New York aristocrat traveled to western Dakota Territory in 1883 to kill his first buffalo. He got his buffalo, but he also fell in love with the badlands of what is now North Dakota. On impulse, Roosevelt invested a significant portion of his wealth in two badlands ranches, and he spent the better part of 1883–87 ranching, hunting, serving as deputy sheriff, writing books, and attempting to become an authentic American cowboy. In North Dakota the New York dude became the Theodore Roosevelt who led a cowboy brigade of cavalrymen up Kettle and San Juan Hills in 1898 and then led the American people into the twentieth century as the twenty-sixth president of the United States. This book contains 70 stories, many set in Dakota Territory, about Roosevelt’s life as an adventurer, politician, and man of letters, lavishly illustrated with more than 100 photographs, some never previously published. Clay S. Jenkinson’s introduction assesses what Roosevelt learned from his sojourn in the West, including his commitment to conservation of America’s natural resources. With a foreword by best-selling biographer Douglas Brinkley, this book tells the story of Theodore Roosevelt’s life in his own words, carefully excerpted from his 1913 autobiography.

A Free and Hardy Life: Theodore Roosevelt’s Sojourn in the American West

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

For the Love of North Dakota and Other Essays: Sundays with Clay in the Bismarck Tribune

Clay S. Jenkinson’s love affair with North Dakota and the Great Plains is the central theme of his life. For the Love of North Dakota is a compilation of essays—many of which began as newspaper columns in the Bismarck Tribune—that explores two themes: the changing face of North Dakota as it makes the transition from an agrarian enclave at the heart of the North American continent to a more globally connected urban and industrial society; and the spirit of place of North Dakota, an isolated, windswept, subarctic grassland that has its own enchantment and astonishing beauty.Jenkinson writes lovingly about the Little Missouri River Valley and the badlands of western North Dakota, the magnificence of plains blizzards and thunderstorms, driving the American West without any settled destination in mind, about the lingering rituals of small-town life, and about North Dakota’s search for a postagrarian identity.Jenkinson emerges in these essays as the most significant voice of concern about the future of the Great Plains in North Dakota, of family farming and heritage ranching, of the sanctity of the Missouri River, and the quiet landscapes that have made North Dakotans a unique rural people.

History

Americas

Clay S. Jenkinson’s love affair with North Dakota and the Great Plains is the central theme of his life. For the Love of North Dakota is a compilation of essays—many of which began as newspaper columns in the Bismarck Tribune—that explores two themes: the changing face of North Dakota as it makes the transition from an agrarian enclave at the heart of the North American continent to a more globally connected urban and industrial society; and the spirit of place of North Dakota, an isolated, windswept, subarctic grassland that has its own enchantment and astonishing beauty. Jenkinson writes lovingly about the Little Missouri River Valley and the badlands of western North Dakota, the magnificence of plains blizzards and thunderstorms, driving the American West without any settled destination in mind, about the lingering rituals of small-town life, and about North Dakota’s search for a postagrarian identity. Jenkinson emerges in these essays as the most significant voice of concern about the future of the Great Plains in North Dakota, of family farming and heritage ranching, of the sanctity of the Missouri River, and the quiet landscapes that have made North Dakotans a unique rural people.

Repairing Jefferson's America: A Guide to Civility and Enlightened Citizenship

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was the greatest idealist of the Founding Fathers of America. He believed that average citizens are up to the challenge of governing themselves. He envisioned a republic of well-educated, well-informed, engaged, and vigilant citizens. Jefferson's dream of a semi-utopian American republic has nearly been swallowed up by cynical partisanship, government gridlock, consumer materialism, and the corrosive power of money in American politics. Jefferson believed in civility, majority rule, the primacy of science and reason, and harmony in all of our public and private relations.
Public humanities scholar Clay S. Jenkinson believes we can return to Jeffersonian principles both in our private lives and the public sphere. Repairing Jefferson's America is a clear and concise guide for those who wish to live more rational, purposeful, and enlightened lives.

Koehler Books

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was the greatest idealist of the Founding Fathers of America. He believed that average citizens are up to the challenge of governing themselves. He envisioned a republic of well-educated, well-informed, engaged, and vigilant citizens. Jefferson's dream of a semi-utopian American republic has nearly been swallowed up by cynical partisanship, government gridlock, consumer materialism, and the corrosive power of money in American politics. Jefferson believed in civility, majority rule, the primacy of science and reason, and harmony in all of our public and private relations.\nPublic humanities scholar Clay S. Jenkinson believes we can return to Jeffersonian principles both in our private lives and the public sphere. Repairing Jefferson's America is a clear and concise guide for those who wish to live more rational, purposeful, and enlightened lives.

Thomas Jefferson was the principal dreamer of the Founding Fathers. Pragmatic utopian and practical visionary, Jefferson was one of the most creative men who ever lived. He penned the thirty-five most revolutionary words in the history of the English language: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." 
Humanities scholar Clay Jenkinson has written a bold call for a Jeffersonian renewal in America. "We need the Sage of Monticello's vision as we begin what is the most difficult periods of American history." 
The Jeffersonian consists of self-reliance, an uncompromising dedication to liberty (over security, profit, comfort, and tradition), an unambiguous wall of seperation between church and state, first-rate public education, thoughtfulness and diffidence about America's place in the world, and a commitment to civility. 
Jefferson brought genius (not to mention reason, good sense, and idealism) to whatever he undertook, and he believed that the purpose of America was not to seek glory and profit in the world's arena, but to build a nation of equality, justice, and cultural achievement. 
Becoming Jefferson's People is part manifesto, part call for a new political persuasion in the United States, part self-help book, and part critique of the consumerist world empire that the United States has become at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Becoming Jefferson's People: Re-Inventing the American Republic in the Twenty-First Century

Marmarth Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Jenkinson, Clay S.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Jenkinson, Clay S.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Jenkinson, Clay S.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Character of Meriwether Lewis: Explorer in the Wilderness; Essays on One of the Most Remarkable Men in American History

Lewis and Clark in Iowa

The Character of Meriwether Lewis: Explorer in the Wilderness

The Character of Meriwether Lewis: Explorer in the Wilderness

A Free and Hardy Life: Theodore Roosevelt’s Sojourn in the American West

For the Love of North Dakota and Other Essays: Sundays with Clay in the Bismarck Tribune

For the Love of North Dakota and Other Essays: Sundays with Clay in the Bismarck Tribune

Repairing Jefferson's America: A Guide to Civility and Enlightened Citizenship

Repairing Jefferson's America: A Guide to Civility and Enlightened Citizenship

Becoming Jefferson's People: Re-Inventing the American Republic in the Twenty-First Century